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pointer
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Pointer
English
Etymology
From point + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (measurement suffix) (sense 10).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɔɪn.tə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɔɪn.təɹ/, /ˈpɔɪnəɹ/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: point‧er
- Rhymes: -ɔɪntə(ɹ)
Noun
pointer (plural pointers)
- Anything that points or is used for pointing.
- One who points.
- 1972, Lynn Hall, Sticks and Stones:
- The talkers and pointers had undermined him. They had touched him with the acid of their suspicions, and the corrosion spread until he himself had lost sight of the truth.
- 2006, Alexandre Dumas, translated by Richard Pevear, The Three Musketeers, Viking, →ISBN, pages 645–646:
- The man he addressed drew back in horror, but answered the musketeer’s words by pointing his finger. Athos offered the man a half pistole to accompany him, but the man refused. Athos went down the street that the pointer had indicated to him with his finger; […]
- 2020, J.M. Griffin, Who’s Dead, Doc?, Kensington Books, →ISBN:
- One man pointed his finger at another, nearly poking the tip of it into the man’s chest. I sidled closer and heard the pointer accuse the other man of cheating.
- A teacher's pointer, pointing stick, a rod with an arrow.
- A needlelike component of a timepiece or measuring device that indicates the time or the current reading of the device.
- (hunting) A breed of hunting dog, trained to point out game.
- 2007, American Kennel Club, The Complete Dog Book, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 30:
- Most of the early wirehaired pointers represented a combination of Griffon, Stichelhaar, Pudelpointer, and German Shorthair. The Pudelpointer was a cross between a Poodle dog and an English Pointer bitch; the Griffon and the Stichelhaar were composed of Pointer, Foxhound, Pudelpointer, and a Polish water dog.
- (programming) A variable that holds the address of a memory location where a value can be stored.
- Synonym: reference
- Hyponyms: dangling pointer, function pointer, null pointer
- 1974, Donald Knuth, “Structured Programming with go to Statements”, in Computing Surveys, volume 6, number 5, , archived from the original on 24 August 2009, pages 261–301:
- I do consider assignment statements and pointer variables to be among computer science's "most valuable treasures."
- (graphical user interface) An icon that indicates the position of the pointing device, such as a mouse.
- Synonym: cursor
- 1995, Aaron Marcus, Nick Smilonich, Lynne Thompson, The Cross-GUI Handbook, Addison-Wesley, →ISBN, page 231:
- The system notifies the user of the progress of a task by changing the appearance of the pointer. System-busy pointers usually adopt a timepiece metaphor.
- One who points.
- (chiefly in the plural) A tip, a bit of advice.
- Synonym: advice
- The instructor gave me some pointers on writing a good paper.
- 1964 April, “News and Comment: Auxiliaries in LT stock”, in Modern Railways, page 234:
- In a paper to the Institute of Locomotive Engineers on February 17 which ranged over the whole subject of auxiliary services on London Transport rolling stock, Mr. R. I. D. Arthurton, Mechanical Engineer (Development—Railways) London Transport Board, gave some pointers to the future on the Victoria Line and elsewhere.
- Something that gives a point (sharp end) to something.
- (in combinations) Something worth a given number of points.
- a ten-pointer
Derived terms
Translations
anything that points or is used for pointing
|
teacher's pointer
|
needle of a timepiece or measuring device
|
hunting dog
|
computer programming: variable that stores the address of another variable
|
tip, bit of advice
|
computing: icon indicating mouse position — see cursor
advice — see advice
See also
Further reading
pointer (dog) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
pointer (computer programming) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
pointer (user interface) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
pointer (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
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Dutch
Etymology
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
pointer m (plural pointers, diminutive pointertje n)
French
Etymology 1
From point + -er, from the past participle of poindre.
Pronunciation
Verb
pointer
- (transitive) to point to/at
- pointer du doigt ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- pointer le bout de son nez ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- pointer son nez ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- (transitive, by extension) to indicate, to show, to point out
- (intransitive) to clock in, to clock on, to punch in; to clock out, to clock off, to punch out (to enter or leave a workplace by punching a time card)
- (informal, pronominal) to show up, turn up
- Synonyms: arriver, se ramener, ramener sa fraise
- On doit se pointer à quelle heure?
- What time do we have to show up?
Conjugation
Conjugation of pointer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
Derived terms
Descendants
- → German: pointieren
Etymology 2
Borrowed from English pointer.
Pronunciation
Noun
pointer m (plural pointers)
- pointer (dog)
Further reading
- “pointer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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Portuguese
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
pointer m (plural pointers)
- pointer (breed of hunting dog)
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Romanian
Etymology
Noun
pointer m (plural pointeri)
- (programming) pointer
- 2021 September 8, Wikipedia contributors, “C (limbaj de programare)”, in English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation:
- Acești pointeri sunt foarte folositori în programarea generică.
- These pointers are very useful in generic programming.
- (hunting) pointer (dog breed)
Declension
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